Josie Files: She's in the Yellow Pages

[ChaosArchon]

A clock rewinds, the shadows shorten, and the sun returns to its former station.

You stand in the alleyway alone, drinking in the scene as it surrounds and envelopes you silently entreating you to delve further and further in to its mystery. The air is polluted with the smell of cigarette smoke from the nearby bar and you can almost taste the stale beer entrenched in the nearby dumpster. It's noon and still the alleyway is darker than a smoker's lungs, and promises an even greater chance of death.

Yet you can't avert your eyes, you must know why it happened. How it happened. Your soul just won't let you forget about it, even if it wasn't dangerously close to lifting the Veil for the Sleepers. The body was only found a few hours ago and already half the town seems to know about it. A young woman found hung upside down with a pool of blood underneath her. The Sleeper police had already surveyed the scene, their yellow tape barricading the area from the public. They had quickly recorded the scene and then taken the body to the morgue to prevent outright panic, but still the tape remained and an officer had been assigned to the scene. Luckily the officer had just left to get a cup of joe, and with the lines at Starbucks he'd likely be gone for some time.

The pool of blood has remained, and the more you look upon it, the more you dream about the mysteries its crimson depths hide beneath its darkened surface. Still, the time for ruminating was past and you had a job to finish. After all it wasn't a normal woman who had died, but a Mage named Morea. She had been a Solitary but all the same, she was one of the Wise and someone would have to answer for this.

[josienoms]

Dali finishes off her cigarette, and crushes it under her heel. She can't be distracted right now, there's something new and exciting and dangerous to undertake. She sits down on the ground near the dried bloodstain on the concrete.

"Well, let's see what we can find, shall we?"

She draws her wand from inside her jacket. It's a simple wooden stick that was once a paintbrush, but has since been inlaid with silver runes. Drawing on her own Awakened understanding, she attempts to see through the veil of time. She mutters under her breath, using her wand and the High Speech as Yantras.

Alright, so I'm gonna cast Postcognition, which is an improvised spell. I've got a base pool of 4 for Time+Gnosis, +1 for using my Wand as a Yantra, and +2 for using High Speech as a Yantra. I have three free Reach, so I'll use one to be able to "scrub" the vision, one to remain aware of my surroundings and not lose defense. I'll use the third to bump it up to Advanced Duration, so I can watch up to an hour of vision.

[roll0]

[ChaosArchon]

Shadows of the past appear in reverse, light and motion moving backwards for hours until you see the scene you came here for.

The moon still shines in the sky, already past its zenith and setting quickly as a warm glow hides behind the horizon. You see a woman dash into the alley and hide behind the dumpster, breathing heavily. The girl's purple hair appears black in the light but small flashes of light given by passing cars tells you its true color. She's dressed in a white dress shirt and black jeans, although her left arm appears to be rapidly changing her shirt's color.

A moment later a figure appears in the alley way, in a heavy coat with their hood over them. The figure looks odd, hazy in this recording akin to a mirage or a censor on TV.
The hooded person looks down the alleyway for a second before walking away. The girl gives a sigh of relief. The danger had passed it seems.

As she sighs, a jet of flame fills the alleyway and the girl shrieks. She gets up a shakily pulls a small pistol out and aims it at her assailant, a small burst of light entering the alley as it fires; highlighting her face and showing her hair's blonde roots.

As the bullet flies towards out of the chamber, it simply stops at the exit and rests at the end of the barrel. The hooded figure slowly walks back into the alley, a small flame resting in their hand emitted from a lighter.

The girl sighs and tosses the gun to the ground, but as it collides with the ground the gun misfires and the errant bullet hits the hooded figure in the shoulder. The assailant gasps as the girl gives a snide grin towards her attacker,"Did I do that," she retorts.

Her laugh is cut short as another jet of flame flies towards her and forces her to duck behind another bin. The assailant advances towards her but just as they reach her spot she is nowhere to be found.

Before the assailant turns, a fist flies out of the darkness and crashes into their head. As the assailant stumbles, the girl kicks her attacker down. Sensing victory, she moves in to strike again but as her boot collides with her attacker's side, she finds it does nothing more than a slight tap, its kinetic energy displaced.

She moves to attack again, but cannot. The figure rises slowly and dusts of their jacket. With deliberate movement, they brandish a knife and stab the woman in her abdoment. Again, and again, and again.

The girl falls to the ground, blood quickly flowing from her wounds. As you see her fate begin to fray, you see her whisper a phrase and can feel her leave destiny one final command.

What comes next is profusely strange. The attacker pulls a rope out of nowhere and begins to hang the girl upside down. Upon finishing that, you see them stretch out a hand and watch as blood begins to pour out of the girl, coming not just from her wounds but her eyes, nose, and ears. Eventually it seems her body has no blood left and below her is a puddle containing all that once sustained her in life.

But the strangeness does not stop, and the figure places a hand on the corpse and you watch as the body knits itself back together. The corpse remains dead but not a single wound remains, even the bloodied clothes repair themselves. The figure then binds one of the girl's arms to her side, allowing one to reach towards her life even in death.

Their ritual seemingly complete, you watch as the figure lays an enchantment and watch as the burn marks and such vanish from your sight. They then leave and the alley remains, a cold, eerie scene.

[josienoms]

Dali exhales. A lot of information, but without a face, it's not much good. It does help, knowing that the attacker was most likely a Mage. It cut down a lot of suspects, after all.

She lights up another cigarette, taking a long drag.

"Well... ****."

That was a bit of a dead end, but she hadn't expected to instantly solve the Mystery with one spell. The threads of Fate were strung heavily over this place. It wouldn't be hard to follow them, all she needed to do was force herself to see them.

She closes her eyes, feeling a deep thrum of power inside her soul. When she opens them again, her Mage Sight allows her to see strands of Fate. She's hoping to follow one to a witness.

Alright, I'm going to activate my Focused Mage Sight, specifically Scrutiny and Fate. So my first roll for Fate stuff:

[roll0]

And for Clash of Wills:

[roll1]

[josienoms]

Exploding tens in my Mage Sight roll!

[roll0]